Gonzalo Herranz Rodríguez, Full Professor , Professor Emeritus of Medical Ethics at the University of Navarra, a field in which he was a world reference, has died at the age of 90. He belonged to the department of Humanities and Medical Ethics. programs of study He was born in O Porriño (Pontevedra) on January 27, 1931. He began his medical studies at the University of Santiago de Compostela (1948) and finished them at the University of Barcelona with an extraordinary award (1954). He specialized in Pathology Anatomy at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, extending programs of study in Tübingen and Bonn. In 1957 he reached the Degree of doctor at the University of Barcelona where he oriented himself to the teaching. In 1962 he was appointed Full Professor of Histology and Anatomy pathology at the University of Navarra. In 1971 he obtained the Chair of Histology, General Embryology and Anatomy pathology at the University of Oviedo.

Back at the University of Navarra he was Vice President of the University of Navarra (1974-1978) and Dean of the School of Medicine of this University (1978-1981). Full Professor of Medical Ethics (1987-2002) and director of the department of Humanities and Medical Ethics until 2001. His research focused mainly on hematopoietic organs and kidney injuries and is contained in 65 articles in journals of the specialization program. In 1987 he changed his career guidance to devote himself to Medical Ethics. He directed his research towards the ethical aspects of the profession, the position of bioethics in the medical curriculum and multiple practical aspects including: the value of nascent life, euthanasia, hospital ethics, etc. He has published about 100 articles on these topics.

Author of a monograph entitled Respect, a fundamental ethical attitude in medicine, of a Commentary on the Code of Medical Ethics (3 editions), and of the book Reading Between the Lines: A Critical History of Contraception (also in English version, 2020).

He was president (1984-1995), secretary (1995-2002) and board member (2002-2007) of the Central Commission of Deontology of the Collegiate Medical Organization, and vice-president of the Ethics Commission of the Permanent committee of the doctors of the European Community (1986-1988). He was also vice-president of the World Federation of Physicians who Respect Human Life (1986-1992), consultant of the Vatican Congregation for the Catholic Education (1989-present), member of the committee Directive of the Pontifical Academy for Life (1994), and member of the committee International Bioethics, of UNESCO (1996). He received several awards such as the Humanist Doctor of the Year of Spain (1995) and award Reflexión 2002 for article Células troncales embrionarias: retórica y política, as well as the Gold Medal of the Organización Médica Colegial de España (2007).

For the Dean of the School of Medicine of the University of Navarra, Dr. Secundino Fernandez, Professor Herranz "was an integral and complete university student, a sage, a true master. He developed innovative subjects in the areas of Experimental Pathology, Medical Writing and essay and Medical Ethics. He always knew how to stimulate in an attractive way the thinking and learning of his students, disciples and colleagues. He went daily to the School of Medicine, until he was almost 90 years old, to contribute knowledge and light in the search and finding of the truth, putting all his talents and energies in it".